840 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1903. 
feeb by 250 feet, or barely more than i acre, 
from which it will be observed that they are mucb 
too close— a condition by no means favourable tor 
the production of latex. Still, results go to show that 
the present output, as obtPoined by means ot smau 
cuts, is all that can be desired. The flow of latex 
is more copious on the morning of a day following 
a heavy shower of rain than on a dry day ; in 
fact, in very dry weather it would be almosc 
advisable to cease tapping altogether. 
/ / 
BOUGH SKETCH, SHOWING THE OLD AND NEW 
SYSTEMS OF "MILKING" RUBBER TREES. 
TVip above sketch represents the trunk of a Para 
vnhhpr tree nhie inches in diameter, and shows the 
v^ifltive eizf's of the incisions made according to the 
p an commenaed by Mr A D Machado. and the old 
hPvrine-bone " system, as depicted lower down near 
the root of the tree. The incisions made under the 
new regime are only one-and-a-half inch long, by 
one-oighth of an inch in width The cups shown under 
the incisions are roughly soldered tin affairs, made 
ont ot old oil cans. They are simply thrust into the 
V,nrk of the tree immediately under the incisions, 
and the laicx flows into them. Prior to being alfixed 
to the tree, a little water is poured into each cup, 
BO that the loux^^ov sap, may not dry too soon and 
Btick to the bottom. After about half an hour, the 
cups are taken away and emptied in o a big en- 
amelled-wave dinh, where the lateen u quickly coagulated 
the addition of about a tablespoonfnl of acetic acid 
fo the nroduct of 50 trfes. The emptied cups are 
rinsed out in another di^h, and the lotex thr.teUom is 
also coagulated. The mere rinsings of these cups 
from the .Wtrer-fl give about half a pound of rubber. 
The way the latex is extracted and prepared is 
"imple in tlie extreme. Am soon as a cut is made, 
cither with a small axe or a chisel, a tin cup, 
enlarged at the apex and taperinjr towards the 
bottom — called in the Amazons a tijellina — is iri- 
Rprted beneath the wound, and into it the latex 
flows. At six o'clock tapping begin.?, and by 6-30 
a.m., tapping is over. At 7 a.m. the cups are 
gathered in, the lalex passed through a sieve to 
ensure cleauliness, a little acetic acid is poured in 
to hasten coagulation, and the latex is then 
poured into enamelled soup plates and in about 
half an hour's time coagulation is complete. The 
latex, which at this point resembles stiff blanc- 
mange, is then put into a press and whatever 
water remains is pressed out; It is then placed 
over a kitchen fire (wood fire) to dry. alter which, 
if the sheets are thin it assumes a dark yellow 
colour and is transparent. Drying in tiie sun will 
not do, as this causes the rubber to turn sticky. 
Taking the average for the last 12 tappings, the 
average daily output of pressed rubber has been 
87 oz or lb 5'44. There will be a loss in weight 
of 40 percent, when the rubber is thoroughly dry 
after smoking— leaving, say, 3 lb of dry rubber for 
each day's tapping. At the present rate of tapping, 
these trees will stand tapping for 90 days, tapping 
them preferably every alternate day, or say 6 
months in all. This means 3 lb a day for 90 day.?, 
270 lb at 4s a pound, the price at Vi^hich this 
rubber is valued in London, and the result is 
a return of £54 per 100 trees per annum. 
At half this figure the profit still remains 
stupendous. Self coagulated rubber is said to be 
better in quali-ty than lubber prepared with 
acetic acid, but the time taken for rubber to 
coagulate by itself is from 16 to 20 hours, whereas, 
with acetic acid, from the time the incisions are 
made to the time the rubber is pressed and ready 
to be smoked, occupies just two hours, a matter 
of some importance where time is of some object. 
The system of tapping now carried on— oblique 
incisions — is the one in vogue, in the Amazons. 
The "herring-bone" system has been described 
by M. Bonnechaux, a gentleman who for some 
years was a rubber collector in the Amazons, as 
little short of barbarous and it is said that it speaks 
volumes for the vitality of these trees in that they 
have survived the ordeals thereby entailed. In 
the Amazons these trees would h&yj succumbed to 
the torture. That it is Iiarmful isprovel by the 
fact that one of the 100 trees now being operatea 
upon had a herring-bone incision male on it, and 
is now producing next to no milk. It is well to 
reiterate the fh,ct that the trees now being taj'ped 
are planted much too near each other, and are 
growing under excessively unfavourable conditions 
generally. In spite of this, they yield an average of 
3 per lb. tree per annum. The average circumfer- 
ence of the trees is 2 feet 10 inches, the largest being 
5 feet 1 inch, and the smallest 1 feet 3 inches. 
—Straits Times, April 16. 
— ^ 
CAMPHOR SUBSTITUTES IN THE 
CELLULOID INDUSTRY. 
The important part played by camphor in the 
celluloid industry is a matter of common knowledge. 
Indeed, it may be said that without camphor there 
would have been no celluloid in the past. Its use, 
however, is not without several drawbacks. In the 
fir.it instance, camphor is a rather expensive product, 
and one, moreover, the price of which is subject to 
very considerable fluctuations. Miiny attempts have 
therefore been made to find a satisfactory substilute 
for this product, but until comparatively recently these 
attempts did not achieve any particular mea-ure of 
success. 
